Sunday, November 02, 2008

Week 6 numbers (first three nights, Mon-Wed): NOTE: Thursday is not in this week in our network averages once again (so sorry!), but we do have final program numbers for Thursday in the analysis below:

Analysis: Week 6 saw Fox way above normal for the three nights thanks to two nights of World Series and November Sweeps started Thursday! I apologize again we only have final averages for the first three days (thru Wednesday). It seems we won't get first four nights network averages in time for each week's blog. But I do again have Thursday final program numbers and network averages, just not four day averages. I don't have time to go through and recalculate so, I'll give you the final Thursday averages in HH: CBS 9.0/15, ABC 7.0/11, NBC 4.9/8, Fox 2.4/4, The CW 2.4/4, MNT 0.8/1, so you can determine yourself how things look after the first four days. So looking at those numbers and the first three days averages on the top, I am projecting for the first four days, CBS has the lead in HH/viewers, with Fox in first (for now?) in 18-49. Fox is also for now in 2nd in HH/viewers, but will probably be over taken by ABC at week's end. NBC will be in fourth in all categories.Last week, CBS won week 5 in HH/viewers, while Fox won in 18-49 thanks to baseball. Fox was also second in HH/viewers thanks to baseball, with ABC third. ABC tied with CBS for 2nd in 18-49. NBC was fourth across the board and only mustered a 2.2 18-49 rating for week 5 without the Sunday Night Football game. Bad shape.Monday ABC was on top thanks to of course Dancing with the Stars. The 92-minute episode did 18.88 million and a 4.2/10 in 18-49...up from previous week again. The sitcom Samantha Who followed and did 10.47 million, up nearly a million week-to-week. A new Boston Legal followed with 8.58 million, up from the previous week. Series finale is December 8...so the final episodes should be mustering up a bit. Fox was actually in second with Game 5 of the World Series (which they only got up to the 6th inning due to rain), as the game did 13.24 million and Fox averaged 12.1 million in primetime. Thank god they didn't air Sarah Connor and Prison Break. Next up was CBS, the usual second place network on Monday, with repeats of its comedies and a repeat of CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did 7.93 million, not bad at all for a repeat and How I Met Your Mother followed with 7.26 million, yes, it was a repeat but needs to a little better. Two and a Half Men repeat and new a special Monday edition repeat of Gary Unmarried followed with 11.88 and 8.65 million. Yes, that is a better retention than Worst Week. At 10pm a repeat of CSI: Miami did 10.59 million. NBC followed with its drama line-up. Chuck started it off with 6.7 million, down a bit from previous week, Heroes followed with 8.19 million...down from previous week, a big disappointment for this season for NBC. New series My Worst Own Enemy at 10pm did only 5.29 million...down again from previous week. The CW had its usual decent numbers with Gossip Girl doing a solid 3.05 million, up a bit from previous week and the resurgent One Tree Hill did 3.21 million, but down week-to-week.Tuesday it was CBS in viewers and Fox in 18-49. CBS had the always reliable NCIS opening the night off with 17.26 million, up a tad from previous week, new drama The Mentalist followed with a solid 16.07 million, up from previous week and Without a Trace did a decent 12.19 million, up from previous week. ABC was next in viewers with the holiday classic special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (and You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown) doing a solid 10.38 million for the hour. Dancing with the Stars: The Results followed with 17.44 million...again up over a million from previous week, as finally Cloris Leachman is gone! Eli Stone followed and did only 6.92 million, down over a million from the previous week for its third outing. It was consistent for the first two airings, though, but down big this past week. Fox was next this week with House doing 13.5 million, up week to week, followed by a repeat for Fringe at just 5.66 million...bad time for a repeat, as this coming week it will already be preempted for the Election Results. NBC was fourth with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 8.14 million, up from previous week, followed by an all-new Law & Order: SVU at 9.33 million, down a tad from previous week. The CW aired a new episode of 90210 doing 3.16 million, not bad but not great and a new episode of Privileged did 1.92 million, up week-to-week.Wednesday saw Fox win big with the conclusion of the fifth game of the World Series, as the Phillies won the championship, doing 1984 million, as Fox averaged 15.35 million in primetime, earlier in the night an Obama Paid Political Ad did 7.21 million. CBS was next, as they also aired the Obama Paid Political Ad doing 8.6 million, that was better than the sitcoms the previous week, Old Christine followed at a special time and did 7.61 million, down a bit from previous week. Gary Unmarried was preempted. CBS aired Criminal Minds at 9pm and it did a solid 13.97 million, but down over a million from previous week and CSI: NY was also down doing 13.75 million. ABC didn't air the Obama ad, and benefited as Pushing Daisies at 8pm did 6.69 million, up a million week to week and a season high in 18-49. Private Practice followed with a solid gain doing 7.93 million, on par with previous week and Dirty Sexy Money did 6.06 million...up from previous week. NBC opened the night with the Obama Paid Political Ad doing 9.91 million, better than what Knight Rider would have done, followed by a 90-minute Deal or No Deal doing 8.34 million and the Friday bound Lipstick Jungle at just 4.91 million. The CW had a new Top Model doing 3.9 million, down from previous week and Stylista followed with only 1.76 million, down from the premiere.Thursday CBS won the first night of November Sweeps. CBS opened with Survivor: Gabon at 13.02 million, down a bit from previous week. A new CSI followed with 19.1 million, down a bit from previous week. The new Eleventh Hour followed and did 11.25 million, down a bit week to week. ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty with the final Lindsay Lohan episode possibly doing 8.55 million, down a tad from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 15.32 million, up week to week and #1 in 18-49. At 10pm a new Life on Mars did 8.14 million, up from previous week. Looks like it is consistent. NBC was fourth with a new My Name is Earl doing 6.27, down a bit again from previous week, new sitcom Kath & Kim followed with only 5.44 million, up from the 4.99 million the previous week. The Office followed with 9.51 million, up a lot from previous week. The season premiere of 30 Rock did a series high of 8.66 million. But can it keep it up? ER did 9.19 million, up from previous week. Fox was off the map with a repeat of Kitchen Nightmares at just 3.58 million, followed by a new episode at 9pm at just 3.91 million. Smallville on The CW did 4.32 million, up from previous week, followed by Supernatural at a great 3.55 million...up from previous week.Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, as Ghost Whisperer did very solid as usual but the story of the night was the repeat of NCIS at 9pm doing over 11 million in prelim numbers for best numbers for the night. Wow! The Ex-List has been canned, and CBS more than doubled it with a repeat. NBC's disappointing Crusoe did bad, as did the new night for Lipstick Jungle...both coming in under 4 million and under a 1.0 demo. Yes, it was Halloween, but everyone but CBS was down big.Saturday numbers saw ABC win in the preliminaries overall and in 18-49 thanks to a great College Football game between #1 Texas and #6 Texas Tech, as the #1 team got beaten with a game winning play. NBC had terrible numbers again as it barely registered a 1.0 18-49 rating.Tonight should be a victory for either ABC or NBC. ABC of course has the Sunday line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. CBS will be solid, but no NFL lead-in tonight to help them, and NBC will be solid with the SNF game, though these two teams are no longer a force this year (Pats-Colts).As for the week, CBS should hang on for the win in HH and viewers but Fox could hang on in 18-49, if not ABC will win it over CBS. ABC will pass Fox in HH/viewers for 2nd place. Fox will be third in HH/viewers, followed by NBC, CW and MNT. What to watch for this week? We will have a new president on Tuesday! ABC or NBC will the night with their coverage of the election. My guess is ABC overall for that night and NBC in 18-49. Go and vote!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of October 20-26)

The Simpsons (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.

King of the Hill (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.

Family Guy (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.

American Dad (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.

Monday Sitcoms

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.93 million for a repeat is outstanding, just down over a million on what it would do in new episodes.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.26 million for a repeat, not as good as the lead-in.

Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.88 million for a repeat...still besting any sitcom.

Gary Unmarried(CBS) - Special Monday repeat did 8.65 million...not bad, it would have been scary seeing how Worst Week would have repeated.

Samantha Who? (ABC) - 10.47 million for a new episode, up nearly a million from previous week. Nice.

Tuesday Sitcoms

None.

Wednesday Sitcoms

Old Christine (CBS) - 7.61 million for a new episode at special time of 8:30pm...down a bit from previous week.

Gary Unmarried (CBS) - preempted thanks to Obama.

Under One Roof (MNT) - Repeat airing did 960,000 viewers...up week to week, it aired after an all-new Tony Rock Project which did 1.07 million.

Thursday Sitcoms

My Name is Earl (NBC) - 6.27 million for a new episode, down from previous week.

Kath & Kim (NBC) - 5.44 million for a new episode...up from the previous week too...after this NBC picked it up for the full-season...um why?

The Office (NBC) - 9.51 million for a new episode...great, besting the previous week by nearly two million.

30 Rock (NBC) - Season premiere did a series best with 8.66 million. But the question is, can it continue? Arrested Development also had a few high rated episodes and it never helped.

Friday Sitcoms

Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - Final numbers are not in yet...but the prelim numbers show 1.26 million. Ouch...Halloween hurt it.

The Game (The CW) - Prelim numbers show just 1.24 million...not good to air it on Halloween night...especially a Friday.

Saturday Sitcoms

The Office (NBC) - For some reason NBC aired a repeat at 9-10pm and it only did a prelim 2.07 million.

Airing tonight (Sunday) is Fox's animated comedies from 8-10.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, 30 Rock were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, Old Christine) or just plain old terrible (such as Everybody Hates Chris, The Game).

The Middle - "The Setup" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Frankie is tasked with being at her mom Pat’s (Marsha Mason) beck and call when she has to stay for a few days at the Heck house after coming down with an ailment. Meanwhile, just when it looks like Sean is about to ask Sue out on a date, Sue nervously blurts out that maybe they should both try to set each other up on a date with one of their friends; and Axl and Brick ponder what it is exactly that Mike does at the quarry.

The Middle - "Eyes Wide Open" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Axl heads to Chicago to visit Hutch for the weekend but discovers that his friend, who has his own apartment and a job, is now acting more like a responsible adult than the free-spirited college student he once knew. Meanwhile, Sue’s excitement over having the apartment to herself over the weekend turns to horror when she is unable to sleep after watching “Silence of the Lambs”; and Brick enlists Frankie and Mike’s aid to help convince Lilah, a new student who doesn’t know anyone at school yet, that she and Brick would make a cute couple.

black-ish - "Please Don't Feed the Animals" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bow keeps in touch with Dre’s incarcerated godbrother, Omar, but when they find out he is being released from prison, Omar’s future sparks debate. Meanwhile, Ruby lets it slip to the kids that she’s been to jail and they push her to tell them more secrets from her past.

black-ish - "Charity Case" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dre is chosen to lead Stevens & Lido’s new charity campaign which helps people give back to their community. When Bow advises Dre that there is more to giving back than cutting checks, he decides to donate some of his clothes to a man in need. Meanwhile, Junior fails his driving test, so Ruby offers to chaperone a trip with him and the twins on an informative outing.

Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn - "The Harper Quad-Jobbers" (Nickelodeon, 8:30PM ET/PT)
The quads try to earn money for a pool so that their house can be the place everyone wants to hang out at during the summer.

Sam Rockwell (F Is for Family) - Watch Sam on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.

Laura Benanti (The Detour/Go On/Starved) - Laura appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.

Tiffani Thiessen (Alexa & Katie/Good Morning, Miami/Saved by the Bell/Saved by the Bell: The College Years) - Tiffani chats on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.

Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love) - Holly and her husband Rodney talk about the Hallmark Channel original series Meet the Peetes on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.